TOWSON, Md. -
After a tough opening day at the Morgan State Invitational, UMES bounced back on day two to climb from sixth to third place and have a shot at winning the championship heading into the final day on Sunday, Feb. 17th. UMES made up for the tough start on day one with a 4-1 record and stand 7-3 overall in the event.

UMES dominated in team games on Saturday, picking up a win over Nebraska to open the day (1105-1008), and then topping Elmhurst (926-861), Fayetteville State (991-821) and Livingstone (957-577). The Hawks' lone loss came to Central Missouri in the second match 947-929.

The Hawks opened up against the Huskers and were on fire. All five bowlers hit the 200 pinfall mark with T'nia Falbo (Greensburg, Pa.) leading the way with a 247. Megan Buja (Rockford, Ill.) added a 237 while Kristie Lopez (Ponce, Puerto Rico) tossed a 212. Coming off her MEAC Bowler of the Week honor, Anggie Ramirez (Bogota, Colombia) added a 209 while countrywoman Valentina Collazos (Cali, Colombia) bowled an even 200.

With the Jennies up next UMES would need another big effort from everyone, but Falbo was the only one to deliver, rolling a 226. Everyone else could not reach 200. If they had, UMES could have won, but they came up short, losing by 18 pins.

The Hawks tossed five more games of 200 in the next three matches, taking advantage of the lesser opponents to pick up some wins and bolster their standings. Lopez put a 248 and 259 back-to-back while Ramirez had a 226, Falbo a 210 and Victoria Jones (Baltimore, Md.) came in to post a 225 in the Livingstone win.

On the previous day UMES struggled to put up any kind of count, rolling an abysmal 120 in game four of the Bakers against Norfolk State to lose by 13 pins. They had been leading the match by 50 pins. That loss was devastating and set the tone for the day. While they rebounded to beat North Carolina Central (727-669), North Carolina A&T (832-609) and Bethune-Cookman (748-703), they would drop the final match of the day to Arkansas State 867-784, not putting up enough pins and ended the day in sixth place overall.

But the solid day two catapulted the Hawks up the standings to third, setting up a best four-of-seven Baker game match with second-seeded Nebraska with a date to bowl in the finals on the line.

"I thought the girls responded well to yesterday's performance," said head coach Kristina Frahm. "I am proud of them for picking up some wins and putting up some solid numbers that got us right back in the hunt for another tournament title."

The University of Central Missouri leads the 25-team field heading into the final day. With Nebraska and UMES second and third, Arkansas State is seeded-fourth while Norfolk State, Sacred Heart, Saint Francis (PA.), Delaware State, Bethune-Cookman and St. Francis-Brooklyn round out the top ten.

Arkansas State and Bethune-Cookman both went 9-1 over the two days while UCM, Nebraska and Norfolk State all were 8-2. UMES, SHU, SF(PA) and DSU all had seven wins.